Operationally-focused CFO’s

Basically, Mark states that business-minded CFO’s can take a lot of the process work off of the shoulder’s of a startup CEO. This allows the CEO to focus on their most important responsibilities like setting strategy, hiring, and fundraising. Some examples of the key work which great CFO’s do includes setting metrics, preparing board presentations, and managing cash. Mark then goes on to give examples of great CFO’s at Upfront’s companies.

I fully agree with Mark’s observations and have seen the same dynamic play out at our startups.

Muge Basaran at Dugun is a great operationally-focused CFO who complements Dugun’s CEO Emek Kirbiyik. There has been a step change increase in Dugun’s ability to set, track, hit, and revise its metrics in line with the company’s strategy since Muge joined the company in 2014.